I am absolutely certain that the best superhero team movie would be neither Avengers or Justice League but something very very different. In fact, it wouldn’t even be something from the Big 2 at all…
In 1993, Dark Horse Comics created their own superhero world populated by heroes and villains who had been the result of various experiments by an alien called the Heretic. There was a Superman analogue named Titan, an Ultraman analogue named Hero Zero, a Hulk analogue named Monster and the much more famous characters of BarbWire (already the subject of a movie with the titular character played by Pamela Anderson), Ghost (whose spirit has been separated from her body), and X (a ruthless vigilante).
The world was changed by the rise of these superpowered individuals and a city that acted as a sort of haven for all of them sprouted up. In the midst of this city, a team was formed called “Catalyst: Agents of Change.” In this series, the city of superheroes, Golden City, secedes from the United States.
The books from Dark Horse were full of action and extremely varied, exploring different genres such as the noir grittiness of X and Ghost, the hopefulness of Rebel, the angst of Monster, the kaiju craziness of Hero Zero (who even had a crossover with Godzilla) and the martial arts madness of King Tiger. A team movie culled from these characters would make an incredibly diverse team and would give audiences something they’ve never seen before. It has the potential to change CBMs forever.
Eventually, sales dropped off and Dark Horse changed up the Catalyst book by bringing in a more ruthless leader named Law, who molded the team into what he wanted them to be. There was a crossover with the Mask (a character owned by Dark Horse) and a final crossover with Predator, in which the Predator kills many of the heroes and villains. Since Dark Horse owns the character of the Mask, I can see them making the movie much more appealing to fans of the original Jim Carrey movie by including the Mask but giving him the much darker tone consistent with the original comic books rather than the more straight-up comedy that was the movie and its abysmal sequel.
Dark Horse have a ton of potential here and they can very easily craft a cinematic world that outshines both Avengers and Justice League in its sheer madness. All they have to do is make it happen. Sound off below in the comments. Would you like to see a cohesive cinematic superhero universe with heroes as diverse as these? Do you think something like the Dark Horse Heroes have potential? I think Dark Horse has a vast well of untapped potential.